Cisco Ramon's Guide to Team Work
by fbeauchamphartz
Summary: Barry asks Cisco for help proving that Len can be a "team player". Cisco uses it as an opportunity to get some timely revenge. Coldflash. Barry Allen, Leonard Snart, Cisco Ramon.
**A/N:** **Okay, so I was watching Rogue Air, and all I could think about was what would it be like to be Cisco, having to make nice with Snart after what he did to his brother. I was also thinking what if he was a little upset with Barry for putting him in this situation. Hence, we have this - what I hope can be claimed as somewhat humorous, if nothing else. Inspired by the line in the episode, "Really not enjoying being one of the good guys this week," but taken completely out of context xD Also, I'm not sure I know how Barry could convince Len to do this, but I'm sure he has his ways. Just go with it xD**

"Eenie, meenie, miney…"

"Snart!" Barry snaps, slapping Len's hand before he has the chance to push the button his finger's hovering over and unleash another penalty. So far, they've only been pelleted by paintballs, but Barry was determined not to find out what other surprises lay in store for them. "We're not going to solve this puzzle by pressing random buttons."

"Like _you're_ doing a bang up job," Len comments, pressing the button anyway. It buzzes, spitting electricity. Len pulls his hand back from the crackling blue light and hisses, "Motherfu-"

"Language!" Barry scolds, picking up the clue tiles Len knocked to the floor and putting them back on the table.

" _Fucker_ , Barry," Len finishes, shaking his hand to revive his numb fingers. " _Fucker_. Mother _fucker_. I just got electrocuted, I'm gonna curse."

"If you work through the problem before you take a guess, maybe you wouldn't get electrocuted," Barry suggests, rearranging the tiles in the correct (he thinks) order.

"Well, why did your friend Cisco program this stupid test to electrocute us if we got a wrong answer?" Len asks, glaring at Cisco through the clear wall of the box-room prison Cisco has them locked in.

Cisco glares back, entirely unimpressed by Len's intimidating stare.

"Because I hate you," he says over the intercom. "And you guys have three more minutes."

"Thank you, Cisco," Barry says, "but that's not really helping…and wait!" Barry looks up and locks eyes with his friend. "What about _me_?"

"Yeah, well, you made this deal with the devil," Cisco grumbles. "I'm not entirely thrilled with you, either." He flicks off the intercom and puts his feet up on the counter in front of him. Inside the box, Len impulsively hits another button, and Barry screams as a blast of icy air shoots him in the face.

"What are they doing?" Caitlin asks, gasping when Len cackles, slamming the button again in the hopes that Barry will receive more of the same.

"Since we're going to be working with Snart to get the metahumans out of here, and Joe's not completely convinced that he's on the up and up, Barry wanted me to help prove that Cold can be a team player. So he put me in charge of developing some teamwork exercises." Cisco gestures with both hands to the room in front of them - four clear walls and a paneled ceiling. There's a table in the center, the top, a control panel set with rows and rows of buttons, each one labeled with the part of a larger equation. "This is an escape room. I've given them clues to an algorithm they have to solve in thirty minutes. If they solve it, the doors open and they can leave. But for every wrong answer they give, they suffer a consequence."

Caitlin raises a judgmental brow. "So, Barry needed to prove that he and Len could work together, and your solution was to lock them inside an 11'x11' chamber of horrors?" She flinches when Len hits another incorrect button, and a wave of neon green ooze drops from a panel in the ceiling, covering both men and the table, obscuring all of the tiles and most of the labels.

"Can you think of a better way?" Cisco asks, a wicked grin barely making a dent on his resolute face. He leans forward and switches on the intercom. "That's two minutes, guys. Two minutes."

"Thank you very much, _Cisco_ ," Len growls between his teeth as green gunge drips down his shaved head. "It's not NH2," he says, redirecting his ire at Barry. "It's NH1."

Barry throws up his hands, splattering green slime onto the clear walls. "That…what are you talking about!? That doesn't even make any sense!"

"What happens if they don't solve the problem in time?" Caitlin asks with worry, watching Barry attempt to clean off the tiles and going absolutely frantic when the sticky polymer doesn't wipe away.

"Well, one of a number of things," Cisco says. "They have yet to trigger the sprinklers, the laughing gas, the robotic bees…"

Caitlin glares at Cisco, but he casually puts up a reassuring hand.

"Don't worry," he says. "I created them myself here in the lab. They're an improved prototype of Brie Larvan's design. They won't kill them. They'll just…sting 'em a little."

"What doesn't make sense," Len says, starting to sound as agitated as Barry, "is that _you're_ supposed to be the smart one. NH1 is the right answer. Here, I'll prove it to you…"

"Wait!" Barry yells, reaching for Len's arm. "Don't!"

Len presses the button, and a spray of fireworks go off inside the enclosed room.

"I told you to wait!" Barry screeches over the explosive popping and whizzing, dropping to the floor underneath the table with his arms thrown over his head.

"I don't do _wait_!" Len counters, following Barry to the ground.

"Do you do burnt to a crisp? Because your parka's on fire!"

"Well, don't just lie there, Scarlet! Put me out!"

"What do I look like?" Barry laughs, his voice cracking. "CO2? Which was the right answer, by the way!"

"If that was the right answer, then why didn't you push the damn button!?"

"Because that's not the _entire_ answer, and I didn't know what would happen! Unlike you, I'm not trying to get us eviscerated!"

Caitlin looks at the various screens in front of Cisco, each one displaying a different view of the room. She focuses in on the camera aimed at Barry's table, and the various tiles he's using to construct Cisco's algorithm.

"Wait," she says, leaning closer to the screen and enlarging the image. "Those tiles…are they incomplete?"

"Yup," Cisco answers.

"You didn't put all the values in there?"

"Nope."

"So, no matter what they try, they'll never get the correct answer?"

"That's right."

"Cisco!" Caitlin backs away from the screen, shaking her head with disapproval. "I know you're upset with them, but that's…that's awful! Barry's your friend, and Snart, he…well, he…" Cisco stares up at her with a healthy dollop of moral indignation, waiting to hear how she planned on defending Snart, the man who kidnapped her and tortured his brother. Caitlin looks at the screen, then at the box, then back at Cisco. "Barry's your friend, Cisco! I know you feel like getting revenge. To be honest, so do I. But this isn't the answer!" Cisco makes a dismissive noise, and Caitlin pulls a frustrated face. "Does tormenting them like this really make you feel better?"

A timer goes off on the panel in front of them, and Cisco turns his attention back to the screens.

"Wha-what is that?" Caitlin asks anxiously. "Cisco? What's going to..."

He puts up a finger, eyes glued on what Cold and Barry do next. "Wait for it…"

Barry stops beating at Len's coat and sniffs the air. "Hold up…do you smell that?"

"Yeah," Len says, shrugging his parka off onto the floor and punching the last remaining fire out, "it's the smell of my burning flesh."

"Not that," Barry says, shushing him. "It's…"

A sudden release of gas floods the room and both men start coughing violently. Caitlin's jaw drops.

"Is that…the gas we developed to knock-out the metahumans?"

"Yup."

"You're testing it out on them!?"

"Don't worry. They should be fine," he insists. "But they'll both wake up with one hell of a headache." Cisco watches with a grim smile as Len falls unconscious, sliding face first into a puddle of goop, with Barry on top of him. Cisco flips a switch, shutting off the gas. He turns to Caitlin, brushing his hands together in triumph. " _Now_ I feel better."


End file.
